Max Coyer attended Trinity College in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut for two years, majoring in poetry.
His paintings were essentially an amalgamation of both academic and modernist art movements, heavily influenced by both and with neither of their methods.
"[1] Historical references, mark experimentation, stenciling, and symbolism were all prevalent techniques in Coyer's work.
Notable series of works include the cone paintings, which he created after having a "strong and pleasant dream about flying in a spaceship"[1] and depict a cone with its point down and two sides like an arc of a circle, which has been read as an abstract head with two shoulders; and the opium paintings which were supposedly inspired by Jean Cocteau's series of self-portraits that he drew during treatment for his addiction to the drug, opium.
Throughout the 1980s, Coyer frequently exhibited in New York City and was represented by the Harm Bouckaert Gallery in Tribeca.